Memory. Receptiveness. Spacial awareness.

Improvisation Practice
Session with Katye Coe


Memory. Receptiveness. Spacial awareness.


We started our second year practicing improvisation in a mixed groups - half second year students and half 3rd year students. I think it give us slightly different experience, as we work with a different people (some of them we don't know very well), which is very good and much more interesting.
A very nice and fresh start was 'telling stories' game, which made us communicate to each other a bit more, in a more personal way maybe, and really awaken perception and memory. And it was so much fun as well! I believe awakening perception and memory was the main purpose of this game, as it didn't develop further, as I expected.

Later on, we worked in pairs with objects in the room. One of the partners kept eyes shot and was lead by the other around the room, taken to different places of the room in order to explore particular places and objects around, not knowing what exactly that was. I was lead towards the doors and played with it for a bit, but for some reason I felt uncomfortable and got bored quite quickly. I  think it was something about limitating myself, and I found out that I need to open myself more, be more brave and take all the possibilities, push the boundaries, when I feel I could do so.

WHAT THE WORST CAN HAPPEN?  this is the question I made for myself, which encourages me from now on, because usually in the dancing world u realise that there is nothing bad or wrong that could happen!

There was few more interesting exercises we did in order to sense the space and be aware of the other moving bodies in the room (we walked across the space using different speeds and tired to get to the other side of the room at the same time as your partner does, without looking at each other after we pass each other). I find it interesting and quite difficult, it makes me question what does it build up, and I think it is a lot about coordination and spacial awareness as well as being very attentive to the quality and speed your patner moves, even it was just walking.

Another thing to mention from this particular session was witnessing your partners improvised dance with your eyes shut! I think it becomes a lot about sound, hearing the movement becomes the way of "seeing" it. It is also very impressive, as I find it as a new way of creating new movements, especially when struggling with finding new ways of the same movement. When 'blind-witness' is trying to repeat the 'heard' dance, it makes it very different, but still keeps such a similar pattern.  Other interesting thing about this exercise - witness can easily feel where the dancing body is in the space even at the moments when movements can't be heard.


Questions and reminders for myself in order to develop:

Pushing the boundaries.
Trust people you don't know.
Being playful.
What the worst can happen?